


the cain instinct

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang and Zuko are Brothers, Fire Lord Zuko, Gen, POV Outsider, Post-Canon, aang being a little shit, and I will die on that hill, if you can call zuko tackling aang after an Important Meeting and singing his eyebrows off Fluff, pure self-indulgent fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25641037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which the Fire Lord is a competent and compassionate leader trying to head a successful international peace summit, but he is also a seventeen-year-old boy.And the Avatar won't stop calling him his great-grandson, and thus is in sore need of a beatdown.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 1250
Collections: A:tla





	the cain instinct

**Author's Note:**

> have a little ficlet i wrote to distract myself from my massive WIPs!!!

Chen Fong of the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se Ambassador to the Fire Nation, was _not_ incredibly scared of his assignment, thank you very much. In fact, he wasn’t scared at all. If his hands shook when he picked up his tea cup at his first diplomatic meeting, it was simply coincidental. 

The Fire Lord was watching him disinterestedly, and that _did not_ scare him, no it did not, and it certainly didn’t shock him that the Fire Lord was, well- 

A kid. 

They’d known, of course, that he was young. Under the age of majority in Earth Kingdom, even, but this seemed _wrong_ , almost. 

He was undeniably a teenager, probably no older than Chen’s oldest son, with a large burn scar over one eye and dark hair escaping its formal top knot. There was still a thin layer of fat on his unscarred cheek that betrayed he was not the adult most of the world expected he was, and the permanently scar-narrowed eye made it seem as though he was aware of that fact, and _angry_ about it. 

Chen had been in Ba Sing Se when Azula took over. He was well aware of what Fire Nation teenagers were capable of. And this particular one, who seemed as though he could take out Chen Fong without a second thought and have a cup of tea afterwards, was alternating between reading a briefing scroll and looking up at him with a scowl, and he certainly wasn’t scared. Not at all. 

The Fire Lord looked up again and then rolled his eyes. Had he already done something wrong? Was there something Chen had missed in his Fire Nation etiquette briefings? 

The Avatar walked in. 

Younger than the Fire Lord- his voice hadn’t even dropped yet, _this_ was the fearsome Bridge Between Worlds who defeated Ozai?- and a head and some change shorter. And he flopped down next to the Fire Lord, and- Chen Fong must be losing his hearing, that couldn’t be right, he said- 

“Great-grandson.” 

The Fire Lord’s scowl deepened, and he straightened up, pointedly not looking at the Avatar. 

“I told you not to call me that.“

“Don’t disrespect your elders.” The Avatar said haughtily, reaching over and taking the Fire Lord’s tea cup. The Fire Lord had one hand raised, seemingly prepared to strike, when the door opened, and a crowd of dignitaries flooded in to begin the afternoon’s meeting. 

It was long and arduous and boring, full of discussion on drawing new boundaries and peace treaties and ensuring that the Earth Kingdom territories that had been scorched by Ozai would not starve in the upcoming winter. Chen kept a careful eye on the Avatar and Fire Lord. Any aggression between the two would surely cause an international incident, if not another outright war. However, they seemed to get along fine, even supporting the other’s arguments and making a point to agree with each other. 

That is, until a recess for lunch was called, and everyone filed out. Chen lagged a bit. An Omashu representative had wanted to discuss something with him, and spirits, Bumi was fucking insane, so he really didn’t want to discuss _anything,_ and hopefully if he stayed behind long enough, he could avoid it, and-

“Ahh, young whippersnapper, be a doll and get your grandpappy a-“

“Aang, I swear to _Agni,_ if you don’t stop,“ the Fire Lord growled, and Chen peaked around the doorway. The Fire Lord was full-on lunging across the table for the grinning Avatar, _should he call for a guard?_

“OW- that’s no way- HAHA- to treat your-“

“DON’T FIREBEND INSIDE, YOU LITTLE-“

“Your- OUCH, ZUKO- YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER-“

Chen made alarmed eye contact with the guard still stationed inside. She didn’t quite roll her eyes, but the creak of her armor as she moved to reposition herself so that she had the Fire Lord, now headlocked by a maniacally-laughing Avatar, in full sight, certainly _sounded_ exasperated to Chen. She didn’t look nearly as concerned as Chen thought she should be, even when the Fire Lord began threatening the Avatar with death in increasingly colorful and creative ways and punctuating them with filthy swears. 

“Kids these days,” the Avatar sighed dramatically, and reached down to pinch the Fire Lord’s cheek. The Fire Lord took the opportunity to grab his wrist and flip him so he landed on his back on the carpet. 

“Hey, no FAIR!”

“Fire Lord Zuko, General Wu is returning for your lunch meeting.” the Captain said, monotone, as the Fire Lord pinned down the Avatar and muttered something about finally capturing him.

“ _Thank you,_ Captain Izumi, I never said I’d play fair, Aang-“

A general with a terrifyingly perfect topknot brushed passed Chen, who flattened against the wall to let him pass. He poked his head around the corner to sneak one more glance into the meeting room.

  
  


By the time Wu had bowed to the Fire Lord, the Fire Lord and the Avatar were seated at the table once again, somber looks on their faces and sitting tall. But Chen could see that parts of the Fire Lord’s top knot had fallen out, and the Avatar's eyebrows looked singed. 

  
Spirits. This is what they got for allowing _children_ to become the leaders of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> can u tell i grew up with a million siblings since beating each other up features prominently as a display of affection in, like, all of my fics 
> 
> also my tumblr is ta1k-less!!! hmu


End file.
